The Blog / dunbar

The Dunbar number regularly gets bandied around in social media circles, and for good reason. However, it is usually misunderstood. In today’s hyper-connected world, where technology lets us have hundreds (if not thousands) of ‘friends’, people are increasingly interested in understanding what the human limits on maintaining human friendships might be, and why. Real world relationships have […]

Alan wrote a good backgrounder to Metcalfe’s law: “A Short discussion on Metcalfe’s Law for Social Networks.” If you haven’t come across Metcalfe’s Law before, here is the basic background. When Metcalfe (of Ethernet and 3Com fame) started playing with computer networks, he saw that the value of the network was related to the number […]

I have been pondering the ideal size of a community of late – be it a company (successful companies are communities too), a circle of friends or the user base for a wiki or a forum. Of course, I am not the first to ponder the question, nor will I be the last. Paul Graham […]